Gheorghe Mihăilescu (2 February 1888 – Unknown) was a

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

pilot, credited with four victories by Romanian standards and eight including shared ones.

Early life

Gheorghe Mihăilescu was born on 2 February 1888 in

Alexandria Alexandria ( ; ) is the List of cities and towns in Egypt#Largest cities, second largest city in Egypt and the List of coastal settlements of the Mediterranean Sea, largest city on the Mediterranean coast. It lies at the western edge of the Nile ...

Teleorman County Teleorman County () is a county ( județ) of Romania on the border with Bulgaria, in the historical region Muntenia, with its capital city at Alexandria. The name ''Teleorman'' is of Cumanic ( Turkic) origin. It literally means ''wild/crazy for ...

. He attended the Military School of Artillery, Engineering and Navy, receiving the rank of '' Sublocotenent'' (Slt.) on 1 July 1908. He attended the Piloting School of the National Air League (), obtaining pilot license no.19 on 11 October 1913.

Military career

During the

Second Balkan War The Second Balkan War was a conflict that broke out when Kingdom of Bulgaria, Bulgaria, dissatisfied with its share of the spoils of the First Balkan War, attacked its former allies, Kingdom of Serbia, Serbia and Kingdom of Greece, Greece, on 1 ...

, he flew with Section II of Aviation (), commanded by

Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

(Cpt.)

George Valentin Bibescu George III Valentin, Prince Bibescu (; 22 March 1880 – 2 July 1941) was a Romanian early aviation pioneer and automobile enthusiast. Family His parents were Prince George Bibescu (1834–1902; son of Gheorghe Bibescu) and Valentine de Riquet ...

, executing a number of missions. In the summer of 1914, during the visit of

Tsar Nicholas II of Russia Nicholas II (Nikolai Alexandrovich Romanov; 186817 July 1918) or Nikolai II was the last reigning Emperor of Russia, King of Congress Poland, and Grand Duke of Finland from 1 November 1894 until his abdication on 15 March 1917. He marrie ...

, he flew over the Imperial ship together with , Andrei Popovici, Alexandru Sturdza, and Poly Vacas and put up a show for the Tsar. Before the war, he also served as an instructor at the

Băneasa Băneasa () is a borough () on the north side of Bucharest, in Sector 1, near the Băneasa Lake (). Like every north-side district of Bucharest, it is relatively sparsely populated, with large areas of parkland. Bordering on Băneasa Fores ...

Flight School, and on 1 July 1916, he was promoted to the rank of

Lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a Junior officer, junior commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations, as well as fire services, emergency medical services, Security agency, security services ...

. After Romania entered World War I on the side of the

Allies An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not an explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are calle ...

in August 1916, he was first deployed in

Dobruja Dobruja or Dobrudja (; or ''Dobrudža''; , or ; ; Dobrujan Tatar: ''Tomrîğa''; Ukrainian language, Ukrainian and ) is a Geography, geographical and historical region in Southeastern Europe that has been divided since the 19th century betw ...

, then he was assigned to at Râureni. On 1 January 1917, he was appointed administrative commander of . On 22 January 1917, he scored his first victory over a German aircraft which crashed behind enemy lines over the front of the 2nd Romanian Army. On 21 June, while on a mission over

Târgu Ocna Târgu Ocna (; ) is a town in Bacău County, Romania. It administers two villages, Poieni and Vâlcele. The town is situated on the left bank of the Trotuș River, an affluent of the Siret, and on a branch railway which crosses the Ghimeș Pa ...

, he shot down a Hansa-Brandenburg C.I of FliK 39 flown by Augustin Novak and Karl Lukats, the victory was shared with

Sergeant Sergeant (Sgt) is a Military rank, rank in use by the armed forces of many countries. It is also a police rank in some police services. The alternative spelling, ''serjeant'', is used in The Rifles and in other units that draw their heritage f ...

(Sgt.) Nicolae Mănescu. He would shoot down Novak again, on 8 July, while on a mission with Cpt. over

Dărmănești Dărmănești (; ) is a town in eastern Romania, in Bacău County, in the valleys of the Trotuș and Uz rivers. The town is named after one of its leaders, "Dărman" and the earliest reference to the town is from the 16th century. As of 2021, ...

. This time, Mihăilescu was the one who delivered the ''coup de grâce''. During the battle, Novak's observer, Franz Fritos von Felsöbenced, lost his life, the aircraft crashing near Bergy Magyaros. On 9 August 1917, while escorting the

Farman F.40 The Farman F.40 was a French Pusher configuration, pusher biplane reconnaissance aircraft. The aircraft was also used as light bomber aircraft in the early part of World War I and later it was used as a Trainer aircraft, trainer. Development D ...

flown by French Sgt. de Triquerville and Slt. Dumitru Bădulescu, he engaged and shot down the Oeffag C.II no. 52.63 of FliK 31, flown by ''

Zugsführer (Zgf or ZF; ) is a rank of the enlisted men rank group (EN group) in the Austrian Bundesheer. In comparison to the German Bundeswehr it is equivalent to the EN-rank “Oberstabsgefreiter”. A Zugsführer might be tasked to lead a sub-subunit ...

'' Adolf Rabel and observer ''

Oberleutnant (English: First Lieutenant) is a senior lieutenant Officer (armed forces), officer rank in the German (language), German-speaking armed forces of Germany (Bundeswehr), the Austrian Armed Forces, and the Swiss Armed Forces. In Austria, ''Oberle ...

'' Franz Xaver Schlarbaum. The Austro-Hungarian aircraft crash-landed in no man's land, closer to the Romanian trenches, Schlarbaum being rescued from the wreck of the aircraft by Bădulescu and de Triquerville. Mihăilescu scored his last non-shared victory over a German DFW on 21 August. On 7 September, he carried out 8 combat missions together with Ioan Georgescu and Paul Urechescu (who recently joined the squadron), totaling 11 hours of flight time. During these missions, the pilots of N.1 squadron engaged 5 Austro-Hungarian KD fighters. After the war, on 1 September 1919, he resigned from the military as he felt he had been wronged when he was dismissed from his post as assistant to the commander of . The commander of , Cpt. Chambe, described him as such:

Air victories

Mihăilescu scored eight victories during the war, including four shared with other pilots, so not counted by Romanian standards.

Awards

He received the following awards: *

Order of the Star of Romania The Order of the Star of Romania (Romanian: ''Ordinul Steaua României'') is Romania's highest civil Order and second highest State decoration after the Order of Michael the Brave. It is the oldest Order of Romania. It is awarded by the Preside ...

with Swords, Knight Class *

Order of Saint Anna The Imperial Order of Saint Anna (; also "Order of Saint Anne" or "Order of Saint Ann") was a Holstein ducal and then Russian imperial order of chivalry. It was established by Karl Friedrich, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp, on 14 February 1735, in hono ...

2nd Class * ''

Croix de Guerre The (, ''Cross of War'') is a military decoration of France. It was first created in 1915 and consists of a square-cross medal on two crossed swords, hanging from a ribbon with various degree pins. The decoration was first awarded during World ...

Notes

References